Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabella Green.
Hi Isabella, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Isabella, I live in Downtown Miami and work through my Upcycle creative studio. Here’s a bit of background info on how my quarantine project turned into a company:
My family runs an art company. We represent a small group of artists. My job used to be fun and social, as I would travel the world and meet interesting people, while we put on shows for our artists in galleries and museums. But when COVID got underway, all that came to a screeching halt. I found myself indoors all day, with my life revolving around my desk. I was bored and unmotivated.
To help cheer me up, my sister, Niki, brought me a plant. This led me to do a lot of research on plants. I was fascinated by the process of growing plants, so I started propagating plants, reusing and repurposing every pickle jar and smoothie bottle I could get my hands on.
I’ve always loved basketball and soccer. Been a Tottenham since before I was born. Sports are a big part of my life. So I had an idea. To take used basketballs and soccer balls and turn them into planters. I started slicing them in half, filling them with soil and a plant, and using a chain to hang them from the ceiling. I photographed my concept and posted it on my Instagram story. Friends started asking if they were available for purchase. At first I offered local deliveries, then national. I thought it was just my friends supporting me, so I was surprised when I got a custom request from a total stranger. Now I ship internationally, and 80 percent of my orders are from people I don’t know.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The main struggle has been learning how to be an entire social media department, finance department, creative direction department, and accounts department as one person! I’ve learned that the only way to stay afloat is to be a jack of many trades.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
A major focus of my company is finding creative ways to give back to the environment and people around us. I am developing a charitable initiative in which I will donate new soccer balls and basketballs to schools, and take their old sports balls, which they would have trashed and surely sent to landfill, and use them for our planters. Our name is Upcycle Planet, and we’re all about recycling and upcycling materials, and giving them a second life, intending to bring more beauty, happiness, and healthy to our world.
The meditative process of creating my products, finding solutions for modern challenges, and building the Upcycle Planet brand, are what bring me intrinsic fulfillment.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Sometimes we manifest amazing things into our lives without even setting an intention or realizing it, this is my definition of luck. When we are grateful and notice these beautiful things coming into our lives, we feel lucky. For me, luck stems directly from gratefulness. The second I started writing down things I was grateful for every day, I started noticing how lucky I was, and this company was born shortly afterwards.
Contact Info:
- Email: upcycleplanetshop@gmail.com
- Website: Upcycleplanetshop.com
- Instagram: upcycleplanet
